CoServ goes live with CIS Infinity

Stacia Sims knows that every major software implementation has its challenges and risks.

And the Senior Vice President of Information Services at CoServ Electric knew that replacing two legacy CIS systems would be no exception. The plan was to merge data, configuration, workflow and business processes from two separate organizationsCoServ Electric, an electric cooperative, and CoServ Gas, Ltd., a gas utilityeach with its own rate complexities, and a diverse service area.

All this had to happen during a period of rapid growth. More than 16,000 new accounts were added to the organizations in 2004.

How did the implementation go?

“Because of the preparation and training, the implementation was one of the best I’ve ever seen,” says Ms. Sims.

CoServ Electric and CoServ Gas are now live with CIS Infinity®, the customer information and utility billing solution offered by Advanced. The 16-month project ended on schedule, thanks to a strong collaborative effort from the CoServ team led by Denzil McGill (Director of Information Services for CoServ Electric), Marie Ingham (Project Manager for CoServ Electric), and the Advanced implementation team.

CIS Infinity gives CoServ Electric and CoServ Gas the capability of providing a single point of contact for customers of both organizations, without custom programming and with a drastic reduction in manual work. Ms. Sims expects the new system to provide not only better value to their customers, but also first-rate customer service.

For example, CIS Infinity includes a Membership module that gives cooperatives the ability to integrate their membership tracking with their billing processes, online and in real-time. In addition, CIS Infinity lets CoServ schedule key business processes to run automatically at particular times and dates, on particular machines, while still maintaining precise control over those processes.

Patricia Sorbara, President and CEO of Advanced, credits key members of the CoServ team for their efforts: “Denzil McGill assembled and led a strong technical team through this complex project, and Marie Ingham provided great leadership on a very intensive business process review and day to day activity.”

Ms. Sorbara adds: “Pulling together two distinct organizations on a new CIS is an incredible challenge, both technically and from a business perspective. The CoServ project team showed great commitment throughout the project. This success is the beginning of a great business relationship between CoServ and Advanced.”

More about CoServ: Since 1937, CoServ Electric has provided dependable, affordable electric power to thousands of customers in the North Texas area. In 1998, the company expanded its offerings to include natural gas distribution through its affiliate, CoServ Gas, Ltd.

Advanced is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harris Computer Systems that provides
Customer Information and Billing solutions exclusively to utilities and municipalities. Harris is a leading provider of financial
management and Customer Information Systems (CIS) software solutions.
Since 1976, Harris has focused on providing feature-rich and robust
turnkey solutions to all levels of local government as well as public
power and water markets throughout North America. Harris' focus is on
creating long-term relationships with our customers and ensuring that we
meet the changing needs of our customers over time. For further
information on Harris Computer Systems, please visit our website at
http://www.Harriscomputer.com, or call 888-847-7747.

Northern Kentucky Water District:"Our customers needed a seamless upgrade. We had more confidence in the Advanced strategy than any other vendor's -- their implementation and conversion process were designed to flex for a unique situation like ours."

City of Bellevue:"Throughout the 10-month conversion and implementation project, Advanced brought excellent people to the table, and we've arrived at the end of the project with all our requirements met."